


Herbal Remedies

by orphan_account



Category: Original Work
Genre: Adoption, Eir knows a surprisingly amount about Norse gods, Everyone knows a surprising amount about Norse Mythology, Families of Choice, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Minor Character Death, My First AO3 Post, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Ragnarok, References to Norse Religion & Lore, Running Away, Sorry Not Sorry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-06
Updated: 2018-05-11
Packaged: 2019-05-02 19:17:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14551581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Eir has lived a pretty calm life, she’s lived with her not-mother Evelyn for years. After her real mother had left, she had ran away. Evelyn had found her and became her not-mother. But, after years of that life, she wants an adventure, but doesn’t want to leave Evelyn. After Evelyn dies, though, things get interesting.~T.~“Where would you like to go?”“... Anywhere but here.”





	1. Swallowing Shadows

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time posting here, and I’m kind of nervous. Um, this was originally a school assignment, and I’m just emotionally connected to these characters now.

The first time Eir wishes to leave Midgard is when she is nine years old. 

 

      Her mother has left, leaving her in an endless abyss of kind words with deeper meanings she would never truly know the truth of. She can almost hear her mother's voice, soft and caring, so unlike her father’s loud voice. His voice exploding through the house, as he lost hold of his emotions. His cries had started loud, but gotten softer as the hours passed. After listening to him for a time, she slips away; he never even saw her leave.

 

      She walks outside, the sharp cool air clearing her lungs better than any calming exercises could hope to. There is a weak wind pushing at her auburn hair, the likes of which keeps blocking her amber eyes from looking at the path in front of her. 

 

      At first, she wished to go to the village, maybe see her friends; but then she remembered the eyes of pity, and their words!  _ “Such a poor girl,”  _ one had said.  _ “A father who cares too little, and mother who cared too much.” _ But they were wrong! Her father cared! Maybe he didn’t love her, but when did that matter? He wasn’t hurting her, and that’s all that matters.

 

      Eir makes up her mind, turning away from the cottages of her village, and towards the lumbering towers of trees expanding far ahead of her. The trees blend into the darkness, becoming one motionless blob of suffocating darkness. 

 

      She runs into the foliage, the pain from the branches helping to ground her to reality. But every time she believes she’s back on the ground, something pulls her back up. She looks towards the night sky, foolishly believing she could see the force forcing her mind away; but all she can see is the stars and their shimmering light. 

 

      With a sigh, Eir gives in, allowing her mind to wander to the stars above her, and far beyond them.

 

      Eir dreams up aliens, and star systems in the night sky; the moon glistening in its crescent shape, as though it is smiling at her. The moonbeams light up the ground in front of her, allowing her small, unpadded feet to be seen in the ever expanding darkness. 

 

      In the far off distance, she can hear her name being called,  _ “Eir!” _ It’s her father, she realizes with a jolt. Sadness rushes through her for a moment, slowing down her sprint into a jog. Why is she running? Her father is worried, she should go back. She shakes off the sadness, reinforcing her will to escape. She doesn’t care if she worries them; they didn’t worry about mother, so why should they worry about her? 

 

     The farther she goes, the more the wind bellows in her face, whipping her auburn strands in her face. She can hear faint screaming in her ears, at this point she can’t tell if it’s the wind or something else. Over time, she stops hearing her father; there’s an unnatural silence in the air. The nine-year-old stops running, feeling the shift in the atmosphere. She shivers as she finally takes in the cold air, but dismisses the chill quickly.

 

      Out of nowhere, a light flickers in the trees in front of her. Eir, of course, goes after it; because who would want to stay in the freezing darkness forever? Branches whip in her tan face, as she chases after the beam of light. She narrows her dark brown eyes as she sees the light in its shimmering light, forcing the darkness back. The light is blinding, but within seconds it is pulled away. 

 

      A woman stands in front of her, blonde hair pulled back with two strands falling loose. Teal eyes are narrowed towards her, before widening upon realizing what she’s seeing. A pale hand draws the lantern away, while the other reaches towards her, cautiously. Eir allows the contact, and quickly leaning into the hand. 

 

      Before she realizes what the women is doing, she is wiping away her tears; was she crying? When had that started? Eir is flashed a reassuring smile, slightly yellow teeth poking out from behind her lips. “Hey, kiddo. You okay?” Her voice sounds silvery, as if her voice itself is smiling.

 

      Eir’s dark brown eyes flicker away from the women’s face, not wanting to speak of her mother. “I’m not sure, but shouldn’t I not be talking to you?” Eir lurches out of the gentle hold on her face, to put some distance between them. Her mother had always warned her to not talk to strangers, but she had always asked  _ “But aren’t friends just strangers we’ve met?” _ and her mother would laugh. 

 

      The blonde chuckles, bringing her non-lantern holding hand to cover her mouth. Her teal eyes close as she laughs, before opening once more. “Well, I guess not. But I may be your only chance to leave this forest alive.” She turns around, the lantern lighting up the path once more. The dirt path continues to go deeper into the impenetrable darkness, fading into the darkness. “Where would you like to go?” 

 

      Eir’s dark eyes widen, she has a choice? “... Anywhere but here,” the women turns towards her again, a fire in her eyes. The teal seems to change to a brighter shade with her new determination.

 

      “Anywhere?” 

 

      Eir nods, and within moments the women begins to lead her on the path once more.

 

~T.~

 

The first thing Eir sees after hours of traveling by foot with the women is a cottage. Small daisies grow outside, and it is cozy on the inside. Trees grow outside of the cottage, guarding it from outside view. The trees have already lost some of their leaves, taking a dimmer hue as they prepare to fall from the tree. 

 

      Eir looks from the leaves to her feet, they’d been hurting the whole walk and she now sees why. They’re bleeding; small droplets of blood staining the ground underneath her foot. It’s not nearly enough to be noticeable without knowing what to look for. She lifts her foot into the air to get a better look, for a second almost losing her balance before deciding to just sit on the ground. 

 

      She lifts her auburn gaze to her heel, quickly noticing the purplish discoloration. Some grey is mixed in with the purple, making it seem as if a lilac is being blended with the darkness. She paws at the bruise, feeling a flicker of pain as she applies pressure to it.

 

      The blonde’s teal gaze flickers towards her, speedily noticing her injured foot. Her face distorts into one of concern, as she rushes towards the child. “Oh! Are you alright?” Her eyes narrow at the bruise, her tone turning to a self-deprecating one. “... I should’ve known your feet would be injured! You’re barefoot for Odin’s sake!” 

 

      She takes a second to rein in her calm attitude before turning back to Eir once more. “How about we go inside and get you patched up?”

 

      Eir nods, following the blonde as she enters her home. It has lovely wooden floors, and is spotless. Eir is led past a kitchen, with just enough to survive alone, but barely enough to allow two people to live together. 

 

      Eir is placed in a chair as the woman grabs some bandages and some kind of medicine. She grabs her left foot first, slathering it in the medicine before wrapping it in the bandages. She does the same process to the other foot.

 

      Eir turns towards the women once more, “So what’s your name anyway?” She has been curious for awhile, she realizes. They had gone the whole journey with very little conversation between them, an awkward silence in its place. 

 

     “It’s Evelyn, sweetheart.” Evelyn smiles at her, lifting her up and carrying her to another room. 

 

     “I’m Eir,” she introduces herself as she is carried. As she is brought into the room, she looks around in astonishment, childlike glee entering her amber eyes.

 

     This room has a bookshelf, it doesn’t have many books, but the few it does seem to mostly be children’s books. Eir is placed on a bed, it’s small, but larger than her previous bed. There are drapes hanging around the side of the bed, cutting off her sight from sides of the room.

 

      The drapes are a light shade of green, reminding her of the forest. The thought calms her. As calm floods through her body, exhaustion floods in. She realizes how much has  _ happened _ today; she ran away from her father, got lost in the forest, met Evelyn, and was now in her house! 

 

      She looked towards the blonde once more, was she only allowed to stay the night? Her feet were injured so obviously she was allowed at least the night to stay before she had to return back to her father. 

 

      Evelyn gazed at her with analytical teal eyes, “What are you thinking of?” 

 

      Eir looks away for a moment, “Ah, I was thinking…” she pauses, would it be inappropriate to ask this? “How long will I be staying here?”

 

      Evelyn’s eyes are surprised for a moment before calming. “As long as you wish, Eir.”


	2. Groveling Grief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eir reminisces about her life before Evelyn took her in.

Eir has lived with Evelyn for many years, growing closer with the older lady as she grew up. The blonde had quickly earned the right to be her mother figure. She had picked Eir up when she had fallen out of a tree, healed what she could; and if that wasn’t enough, she would take her to the nearest village and have them heal her. 

Evelyn could’ve easily left her in that forest, Eir realizes sometime in her early teens. The blonde could have looked at her, and continued walking. But she didn’t.

The reason Evelyn was such an amazing… not-mother… was because she didn’t try to be one. Evelyn only acted as herself, she didn’t pretend be a perfect mother; because no mother was perfect. Although, Eir’s mother was a perfect example of that.

But, there was one thing that could destroy any mother. 

Time.

Over the course of years, she saw Evelyn grow older, more frail. Of course, Evelyn constantly denied this, as was her nature. After Evelyn’s hair began to turn grey, and she couldn’t deny it any longer. 

But… she could ignore the problem as long as she wanted. 

Eir, over the years, has learnt to sew her clothes together when they tore, and learnt many other skills; although she was particularly bad at cooking. (That was when she tried to make Evelyn a breakfast in bed, but all the food was either under or over cooked. There was no in between.)

Over the years she had outgrown her old clothes, and has adapted to new ones. Eir now wears a faded cloak, (according to Evelyn it had been passed down from her mother, to give to her own child) which easily warms her with the early chills of autumn, but whenever Jokul Frosti sent his warning winds, she couldn’t help but be cold. 

Over time, Eir hadn’t changed much. She had grown, yes, but hadn’t truly changed. Change made people bitter, hurt people, but Eir wasn’t hurting anyone. Except… maybe her father. 

She had visited the village with Evelyn a few years after running away. No one recognized her; but maybe that was her own fault. She had cut her hair, making herself look more like a boy. The cut really did help, though, it kept hair out of her face, along with other benefits. 

But one thing that itches at her, where was her father? She hadn’t seen a glimpse of him any time she had visited. Evelyn had assured her that her father was probably just gone, or at home while she was in town. She has her doubts, but pushed them aside.

At one point while she was wandering around her hometown, she stumbled upon the graveyard. It was a grim place, though it has thriving flowers growing along the graves, lighting it up. There were many well-placed trees, with large graves and statues in front of them. The graveyard was fairly large, although she could see the ends of the graveyard in her vision. 

The brunette wanders around the graves, reading them as she goes. A few years ago these words would have seemed like ancient texts to her, but now she recognizes some of the names. Many of the graves had been — are, she corrects herself — her peers, and some of the people she hated. 

Abigail Davis was one of Eir’s best friends when she was younger. She had beautiful blonde curls, they would bob in the ferocious wind as she ran. And oh did she run! She was like a mighty cougar, chasing after her prey. Her emerald eyes reflected a mischief that could only be found in Loki himself. 

Abigail Davis, 1708 - 1720. She had died two years after Eir had left? Why hadn’t anyone told her? Because they don’t know you’re here, her mind whispers to her. She feels bad, honestly; from everyone else’s point of view, she just ran away. They most likely believe her to be dead. 

She removes the grave from her sight, turning away. Eir tries to banish the thoughts of Abigail from her mind, but knows it is useless. She may never forget Abigail now, her best friend.

She decides not to go home, not yet; it’s a long trek and she has just gotten here! She decides to head towards the tree line, to sit underneath the leaves and people-watch. 

As she arrives, she sees the piles of leaves on the ground; painting the green of the forest in duller hues. Eir piles the dead leaves in front of a tree. The leaves break under her hands as if they are wet clay, still easy to mold to her wishes. The teenager tries to create a bed out of the foliage, though when she lays on it, most of it disperses underneath her weight. The amber leaves laying around her, swaying as the wind tries to pick them up. 

The trees, still with some foliage, stand around her, caging her view of the village. The village, though up-close it looks like a bustling city, looks as if it is abandoned. Nothing moves, and the only sound is of the winds gentle voice, whispering as it sails across the ground. 

As her eyes drift across the wide canvas that was Midgard, her mind wanders as well. She drifts from topic to topic, starting with the wind, and ending up thinking of Abigail. Was anyone else gone? She hasn’t noticed many of her friends when she visited, were they dead as well? Or had they just left the village, Eir wondered.

But no one offered her answers, only more questions. The urge to scream was like a flower in her throat, choking at her, forcing her to gag on its roots as she threw up its bright petals. What type of flower would it be, Eir wondered mindlessly. Would they be forget-me-nots? The irony would be ripe, she realized. But… the rose would always be a classic, sharp thorns everywhere, piercing through her skin. 

As her mind wandered she remembered Abigail making a flower crown for her once. It hadn’t been a very good flower crown, if the brunette was being honest. The stems had been wrapped loosely around each other, making the stability very flimsy. 

Eir’s first crown, though it was made of flowers and love, glowed with crimson hues as she had held the crown in her hands, back then. The little stems had been weak as a newborn, but just as easy to manipulate. 

Eir placed the crown atop her head, auburn strands curling around the petals. Her amber eyes glowing with pride as she pretends she has been crowned a queen. 

After a few seconds of glory, she takes the crown off, and goes to hand it to Abigail.

After a few moments the flower crown had fallen apart.


End file.
